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The Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank said younger pupils should be able to pass tests at 7, 14 and their GCSEs at 16 with lower marks set on a sliding scale according to the month in which they were born.

The award is one of a string of perks worth £7.5million available annually at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and related quangos.

Campaigners accused the Chancellor of 'living in a fantasy land' after he said that raising the state pension age was one of the least controversial things the government had done.

John Sharkey (pictured), chief Executive of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow, who received £314,553.

Some 3.4 million motorists - 9 per cent of the total - have fallen asleep while driving in the past 12 months Often this is just a ‘micro-sleep’ that can last for a second or so but long enough to cause a tragedy.

Living near a busy road and increased levels of pollution from cars and lorries significantly raised the risk of insulin resistance in ten-year-olds, scientists found.

The American Heart Association reviewed studies from around the world and concluded pet ownership, particularly dog ownership, 'is probably associated with a decreased risk of heart disease'.

A letter purportedly written by Cleveland kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro in 2004 has been revealed in which he admits that he is a sexual predator who 'needs help.'

The three girls who were held captive for a decade can't be left on their own because they were so 'brainwashed' they thought they the others would always be around, MailOnline can reveal.

Ariel Castro would take a nude dark-skinned mannequin with a blonde wig everywhere he went with him to get attention and because he liked it by his side, relatives told MailOnline.

Lillian Rodriguez spoke to reporters from the window of her car as she left her Cleveland home on Thursday. 'I am a mother in a lot of pain,' she said in Spanish. 'I am sorry for what my son has done.'

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority is to release details of 70 politicians who have returned cash gains on taxpayer-funded mortgages.

As the 28-year-old prince was en route to Washington DC, Prince Charles, was visiting his son’s airbase at Wattisham in Suffolk to honour Harry’s unit, 662 Squadron.

Nick Clegg (pictured) plunged Coalition relations to a new low after publicly attacking proposals to relax the rules on the number of toddlers that nurseries and childminders can supervise.

There must be a renewed focus on improving the quality of nurseries. And relaxing ratios would help them do just that, argues the former Barnardo's chief executive.

The boost to the outlook for gross domestic product follows official figures that showed growth of 0.3 per cent in the three months to the end of March.

Caroline Woollen, 33, tricked her Danish employer, Nordic Offshore, into believing she had secured lucrative contracts for them with Shell and Siemens, Hull Crown Court heard.

UK government defends using the company which failed to recruit enough guards for the London Olympics to provide security at next month's G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

Thomas Dunkley, 29, of Leicester, was told he must serve at least 34 years for the gruesopme murder of ex WBA light-middleweight champion Shaun Cummins.

Miley Byrne, 25, handcuffed a hotel guest to a lift and then offered the receptionist £50 to remove her knickers during the bizarre ordeal at a Travelodge in Chelmsford, Essex.

As though to show that even the brightest people can make fools of themselves, Professor Stephen Hawking has now done something which is beyond stupid.

The chain may promote itself as the ‘healthy’ fast food restaurant but the new study, carried out by UCLA, suggests that it is not much healthier than McDonald’s, and in terms of salt it is worse.

As this satellite image clearly shows, Britain's weather took a dramatic turn for the worst today. Much of the UK has been affected by the unseasonable weather, with western parts of England hit hardest.

Anne Manger, 55, whose father was a postmaster, was a well-respected member of the community but turned to fraud when money worries hit, Leicester Crown Court heard.

A witness told Mold Crown Court that Mark Bridger, accused of abducting and murdering April Jones, was spotted clutching a black bin bag on a hill the day after the cerebral palsy-suffering youngster disappeared.

Christina Hale, 57, picked mushrooms from her garden in Bridgwater, Somerset to add to a shop-bought soup she planned to share with her husband on November 15 last year, West Somerset Coroner's Court heard.

The number of birds and hedgehogs in the UK has fallen dramatically as a result of climate change and extreme weather, according to a new report.

At the Ostankinsky district court on Tuesday, the trial began of a man who threw a punch. Nothing more than pride was really hurt in the scuffle, which lasted mere seconds.

Cleveland Police Detective Chief Inspector Heather Eastwood's husband Sean Price was the first chief constable to be sacked in 35 years last year.

American scientists have successfully tested a gold-based solder that can be welded onto surgical wounds using lasers. It could provide an alternative to stitches and sutures.

The Sex And The City writer was targeted when the first page of her book was posted and a series of frantic messages appeared on her Twitter account. Ms Bushnell, 54, is the latest high profile figure to be hacked Guccifer.

Scientists found 'significant' improvement in cholesterol levels and blood vessel flexibility, which helps blood flow smoothly, just four hours after people consumed either the shelled nuts or walnut oil.

Deborah Parrott was told she could not get her pet dog Rocko back even though only six weeks had passed since he vanished from their garden in Norwich, Norfolk.

Bailey Sumner (pictured), of Blackpool, plunged 30ft from a 500ft-long ride at GreenWood Forest Park near Caernarfon, Gwynedd, north-west Wales in April 2011.

The elder Boston marathon suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been secretly buried under cover of darkness at an undisclosed location outside of the city of Worcester, Massachusetts.

The pressure group, which sat in on late-night talks at Ed Miliband's Commons office when the Royal charter on newspaper regulation was agreed by the three political parties, refuses to reveal its donors.

Dozens of officers swooped on a dingy rented office in the City where 40 people were working 12 hours a day to rip off unsuspecting clients.

Jane Richard (pictured), who lost her leg in the attack in the April 15 attack, awoke to learn that her brother Martin had been killed and that her parents had suffered injuries in the April 15 blast.

Waze uses satellite signals from members' smartphones to 'crowdsource' maps and traffic data, and can run on Apple or Apndroid handsets and tablets.

The Westminster government is to step up its warnings about the impact on Scots of voting Yes in next year's referendum, focusing on housing, energy and pensions.

A 65-year-old French man who recently returned from Dubai is in a critical condition in hospital suffering from coronavirus, a disease that has killed 18 people worldwide.

Researchers at the University of Gottingen also found that pupils with hypertension were more emotionally balanced and less likely to behave badly.

Javad Malik was trying to escape police in his Renault Megane which was full of class A and B drugs when he crashed into 28-year-old Ahtia Tabisim's Ford Fiesta in Birmingham in January.

Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle, U.S., found that foods that contain an edible form of nicotine give some protection against the condition.

Japanese firm Pioneer has shown off the prototype system in Tokyo which can print a wallet-sized holographic card from a 3D ultrasound scan.

A green-tinged meteor was spotted shooting across England and Wales Wednesday night. Experts believe the meteor may have been formed from debris from Halley’s Comet.

Biagio Chiarolanza, chief executive of the label, said the company bought shirts from New Wave Style, which was based at the building in capital Dhaka that collapsed two weeks ago (pictured).

Abe Astur, from Winchester, had surgery in America to sever the nerves in his spine that sent messages to paralyse his leg muscles.

A police official, Abdul Rehman, said gunmen stormed the rally in the town of Multan, opened fire and seized Ali Haider Gilani.

Online gossip that he has fathered children with four women led to the investigation of Zhang Yimou, who directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The cycle lane in Nottingham is just over four feet wide - so even the smallest cars are unable to squeeze down there and park. However, the council say the lines are needed to protect cyclists.

Scientists from California have developed bacteria than can make plants glow-in-the dark. The doctors are hoping that luminescent trees could one day replace electric street lighting.

Kong Dongmei, 41, the granddaughter of Chairman Mao, is believed to have made part of her fortune selling publications about her famous grandfather.

Fighter jets screamed over Red Square and heavy tanks rumbled over its cobblestones as Russia flexed today its military muscle on the anniversary of its costly victory over Nazi Germany in the Second War War.

Workers at the California Waste Solutions in West Oakland discovered a mummified head on Wednesday, as police now search for more body parts.

A huge blaze has engulfed the LDA Plaza building in Lahore after originating on the seventh or eighth floor.

Wallace and Gromit are to star in a £4 million ad campaign to show off the best of Britain this Summer. The campaign shows the beloved animated characters at top UK holiday destinations. We see the pair find fun at Blackpool Pleasure Beach (pictured)

The £600 Loopwheel is set to go on sale in September. 44 year-old Nottingham engineer Sam Pearce came up with the idea after watching a pushchair struggle to get over a kerb.

Marcela Castro, 29, from San Jose, Costa Rica, has been running Doga classes for 3 years after taking one of her six dogs to a yoga class with her.

An albino seal pup who was made an outcast and abandoned by her mother because of her looks, is now the main attraction at a Linconshire sanctuary. Junior has an unusual milky coat and blood-red eyes.